It is known to provide an inflatable vehicle occupant protection device for helping to protect an occupant of a vehicle. An inflatable vehicle occupant protection device may, for example, include a frontal air bag inflatable between vehicle structure, such as an instrument panel or steering wheel, and a vehicle occupant.
It may be desirable to vent inflation fluid selectively from the air bag in response to vehicle conditions, occupant conditions, or both, in order to help control deployment of the air bag. Sensed vehicle conditions may include, for example, a sensed seat position, a sensed seat weight, and a sensed seat belt buckle latch condition. Sensed occupant conditions may include, for example, a sensed occupant position.
For example, it may be desirable to vent inflation fluid from the air bag if the occupant is positioned away from a normally seated position or in a fully forward and upright seated position in the vehicle. It may also be desirable to block inflation fluid venting from the air bag if the occupant is positioned in the normally seated position in the vehicle.